We’re calling on Scotland’s political parties to prioritise financial security. Our Scottish election manifesto sets out actions to:
– Ensure room to repay council tax
– Tackle the energy debt crisis
– Rebuild financial resilience
– Address economic abuse
– Deal with problem debt
Read more:
https://stepchange.org/policy-and-research/parliament/scotland-policy-asks.aspx
Scotland’s Self-Catering Sector Hit Hardest By Punitive Business Rates Rise
New official statistics show that the Scottish self-catering sector will be the hardest hit by the 2026 non-domestic rates revaluation.
Figures released by the Scottish Government highlight that self-catering properties will see an overall increase in rateable value of 88%, a much higher percentage rise than other property types like pubs, cafes, hotels, and shops.
The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) has repeatedly criticised the flawed rental-led methodology for the revaluation process, which sees self-catering as an outlier compared with other commercial property classes, urging reform before it is too late.
Across the country, some self-catering operators have reported eye-watering increases to their non-domestic rates bills of around 400%. Former Scottish Government Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing MSP labelled the proposed revaluations as “just garbage, utter garbage”.
This comes after the 15% rates relief package promised by the Scottish Government’s Budget “will barely touch the sides” and does not go far enough to even mitigate business concerns.
The ASSC’s 2026 Manifesto for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, released earlier this week, calls for the adoption of profitability-based valuation method for self-catering sector to replace rental comparables. The trade body, as well as a number of cross-party MSPs, implored the Scottish Government to use its powers to halt the revaluation.
Alongside the troubling NDR revaluation, operators are also being clobbered by short-term let licensing fees. For example, Shetland Island Council has just hiked fees for local businesses by up to a staggering 113%.
The ASSC has characterised the regulatory and fiscal situation facing businesses as “overwhelming” and hopes Scotland’s main political parties will adopt the recommendations set out in their manifesto to help bolster the fortunes of Scottish tourism.
Fiona Campbell MBE, CEO of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: “Self-caterers are being hit left, right and centre by all manner of costs and red tape. The cumulative impact on businesses is overwhelming.
“Unfortunately, the NDR relief package announced in the recent Budget will barely touch the sides. We need an immediate pause to the 2026 revaluation and reform of the process before many businesses decide to close for good, hitting local communities the length and breadth of Scotland.
“Our election manifesto signposts a positive and practical route forward on this issue and others impacting our industry. If taken on board, it will help build the foundations for the future sustainable growth of Scotland’s vital tourism sector.”
For the first time ever, Impact Arts is launching a manifesto ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections.
Our vision: A Scotland where people and communities benefit from life-transforming creativity that tackles inequalities and addresses poverty. 
CEO Fiona Doring says: “For decades, Impact Arts has seen first hand how arts-based approaches transform their lives through improving wellbeing, strengthening communities, and developing life chances.
“Ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections, we urge decision makers to recognise the arts as a vital part of building a fairer, healthier, and more connected Scotland.”
OUR MANIFESTO ASKS
Scotland’s leaders, we urge you to:
1. Recognise Creative Engagement as a Public Health Approach
2. Improve Access to Creative Preventative Mental Health Approaches
3. Ensure Access to Arts-Based Therapies for Children Facing Trauma and Poverty
4. Embed Creative, Flexible and Person-Centred Approaches into Whole Family Wellbeing
5. Support Creative Ageing to Bring Joy to Later Years
6. Increase Access to Quality Arts-Based Education & Employment Programmes
7. Support Neurodiverse Young People Through Quality Arts & Creativity Projects
8. Promote Creative Home-Making as Key to Sustaining Tenancies & Preventing Homelessness
9. Celebrate Creative Placemaking
Impact Arts urges Scotland’s leaders to embed creativity across public policy. By investing in arts-based and creative approaches, we can build a more inclusive, stronger, and imaginative society.
Explore our extended manifesto featuring references to research and commentary from Culture Counts, Arts Culture Health and Wellbeing Scotland, Voluntary Health Scotland, Social Biobehavioural Research Group, National Academy for Social Prescribing, Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership, The Scottish Government, Skills Development Scotland, Children’s and Youth Arts Advocacy (CYAA), Scottish Autism, Homeless Network Scotland, and SURF – Scotland’s Regeneration Forum.
Read the full manifesto 
https://www.impactarts.co.uk/impact-arts-launches…/
Luminate: Scotland’s creative ageing organisation
Scottish Federation of Housing Associations – SFHAYouthLink Scotland
The Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers (ASSC) has launched its 2026 Manifesto for the upcoming Holyrood Elections, setting out a clear call to all political parties to champion fair regulation, evidence-based policymaking and sustainable growth across Scotland’s £1bn self-catering sector.
The manifesto, Championing Scotland’s Self-Catering: Fair Regulation, Strong Partnerships, Sustainable Growth, highlights the vital role self-catering plays within Scotland’s tourism economy, one which supports more than 29,000 jobs, driving local employment and spending in rural, island and urban areas alike.
The ASSC also calls for a reset in the relationship between government and tourism businesses, with a move away from piecemeal regulation towards proportionate, coherent and market aware policy that supports sustainable growth while addressing genuine community concern.
The six key priorities set out in the ASSC’s manifesto include:
· Fair, lawful and proportionate reform of short-term let regulation: secured through a clearer separation of planning and licensing, as well as protection for compliant operators from disproportionate enforcement.
· Ending the scapegoating of self-catering in housing policy: self-catering accounts for just 0.8% of Scotland’s housing stock while boosting the economy by £1bn, so it is time to change the narrative.
· A new partnership model between government and industry: the creation of a new statutory Tourism & Hospitality Partnership Forum with earlier, structured engagement on policy design.
· Future-fit regulation reflecting market conditions and cumulative regulatory impact: using impact assessments before introducing yet more regulation or taxation affecting tourism.
· A fair fiscal framework for tourism: with much-needed reform of Non-Domestic Rates and recognition of the sector as a key growth industry in Scotland’s economic strategy.
· A simple and deliverable visitor levy: use of a simple flat rate for those councils who wish to proceed, and shifting liability from operators to guests supported by QR-code or online payment systems.
The ASSC argues that tourism remains one of Scotland’s most resilient and dynamic industries, and that self-catering underpins its success, particularly in sustaining local economies and communities.
The manifesto therefore recommends the next Scottish Government to champion tourism through a dedicated Minister for Tourism.
Commenting on the launch, Fiona Campbell MBE, CEO of the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers, said: “Scotland’s £1bn self-catering industry is at the heart of this country’s tourism success, supporting jobs, local communities and economies in every corner of the land.
“As we look ahead to this important election, our message is clear: fair regulation, strong partnership and evidence-led policy are essential if tourism is to continue delivering for Scotland.
“This manifesto sets out a positive, practical route forward, one which reflects the real-world experience of thousands of small businesses. The ASSC wants to usher in a new era of collaboration between government and industry, and we are calling on all parties to work with us to reset the relationship with business, rebuild trust, and create the conditions for sustainable growth which benefits us all.”
37 organisations have joined us in our call for Scotland’s political parties to show their commitment to keeping the promise to children, young people, families, and care experienced adults.
With clear focus, brave decision-making, and sustained cross-party support in Parliament over the next five years, Scotland can keep the promise.
Thank you to all the partners and collaborators that have joined us so far.
If your organisation would like to sign the open letter, it is not too late and every voice counts.
Click here to find out more: https://ow.ly/l5bI50XVqlX
Diversifying landownership and strengthening community ownership and control is not just a fair approach; it is the key to putting Scotland’s future in the hands of its people and ensuring a more equitable and sustainable future.
That is why our first policy priority ahead of the 2026 election is to ask for 10% of Scotland to be community owned by the end of the Parliament delivered by a clear plan to significantly increase community landownership and reduce the concentration of private landownership in Scotland – including a Land Reform Bill with a meaningful Public Interest Test on all landownership and targeted taxation to deliver land reform outcomes.
Community landownership has repeatedly shown its value, giving people the ability to shape their local economies, create housing and jobs, restore nature and generate clean energy. But to unlock this potential at scale, it is essential that Scotland addresses its concentrated pattern of landownership and ensures a revitalised democracy rooted in communities themselves.
A new Land Reform Bill is a crucial mechanism to do that. Within this Bill, there needs to be a meaningful public interest test on large-scale landownership – a concept proposed by the Scottish Land Commission over the past five years, and which the Scottish Government had previously committed to with 72% of respondents strongly supporting the proposed measure within their consultation on this matter.
Combined with targeted taxation and a clear national plan to expand community ownership, these measures can shift the archaic status quo.
Reaching 10% community ownership is ambitious; but it is achievable, necessary and the clear next step to build a Scotland where land is owned and managed for the public good.
Read our manifesto in full 
People with lived experience of homelessness are uniting with dozens of leading organisations to demand urgent action on Scotland’s worsening housing crisis.
Their joint manifesto will be launched today at Scotland’s Annual Homelessness Conference, hosted by Homeless Network Scotland, on 27 and 28 October in Perth.
It calls on all political parties to commit to a programme of housing justice that will ensure everyone in Scotland has a safe, secure place to call home.
The scale of the crisis has been laid bare in recent statistics, with more than 17,200 households currently trapped in temporary accommodation, a 6% increase in one year, including over 10,000 children.
Nearly 250,000 people are on waiting lists for a social home, and 40,688 households have applied to their local council for help with homelessness last year. On average, those in temporary accommodation wait 238 days for a settled home.
The call comes from members of Everyone Home, a collective of nearly 40 third and academic sector organisations focused on ending homelessness, and All In for Change, a platform that unites lived experience and practitioner insight of homelessness across Scotland to enable decision-makers to drive real change.
All in for Change said: “In the Change Team, we see every day how the housing emergency hurts people who are homeless and those trying to help them. Frontline workers do amazing work, but they’re trapped in a broken system with too little housing and support to fix it.
“Some of us have been homeless ourselves, so we know the reality first-hand. But we believe this can be made better for others, with real political commitment and funding being used more wisely.
“We’ve laid out clear expectations for party manifestos, and we’ll keep pushing to shield people from the worst of homelessness in this housing emergency.”
Set almost 18 months after Scotland’s housing emergency was formally declared, the manifesto outlines a practical, values-led approach to resolving a crisis that continues to deepen inequality and exclusion.
It sets out five priority actions for the next Scottish Government, under the banner of SCALE. It calls for the launch of a national ‘Big Build’ programme to dramatically increase the supply of social housing, with a target of nearly 16,000 new homes each year of the next parliament backed by at least £8.8bn.
The manifesto urges political leaders to coordinate support services more effectively, so that housing is fully integrated with health, social care and justice to ensure no-one falls through the cracks.
It demands that public funding decisions align with housing priorities, including the use of tax powers and long-term investment plans that can give frontline workers and those they support greater certainty.
It insists that housing rights must be protected and fully resourced, warning that too many local authorities are currently struggling to meet their legal obligations.
Finally, it calls for fast-track housing and support for groups facing systemic exclusion, including people affected by poverty, discrimination, trauma, gender-based violence and UK immigration policy.
Maggie Brünjes, chief executive, Homeless Network Scotland, said: “Scotland’s housing emergency is a plan gone wrong, driving homelessness and deepening inequality. To reverse this, we must invest in more social housing, higher incomes, proactive prevention and support that is fully integrated across health, housing, justice and social care.
“The Everyone Home collective manifesto is a plan to put that right and a call for Housing Justice. Combining first-hand, professional and academic insight, the manifesto outlines real-world measures to reduce inefficient spending, prevent the worst harm among the worst off, and scale solutions for a Scotland where everyone has a home.”
The manifesto launch will take place at Scotland’s Annual Homelessness Conference, this year titled ‘It’s Personal: the human face of the housing emergency’.
The two-day event will shine a light on the real-world, human impact of the crisis, through people with lived experience, advocates and experts sharing knowledge and practical ideas to deliver lasting change.
Helen Murdoch, Asst. Director of Strategic Operations & Development (Scotland) at conference delivery partner The Salvation Army, said: “This year’s conference takes place in the shadow of a housing and homelessness crisis that tests our compassion, our resources and our collective resolve.
“The demand for services that support people experiencing homelessness is far outstripping supply – that must change and change quickly. Conference is an opportunity to explore our role in bringing about that change and The Salvation Army is proud to be an event partner.
“It is also a time to look beyond the headlines and statistics, to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary courage and resilience of teams working in communities, the third sector, local authorities and religious bodies to support people experiencing homelessness.”
Keynote speakers include Cabinet Secretary for Housing, Màiri McAllan MSP, who will address the event, renowned children’s rights campaigner and author Baroness Floella Benjamin, and rising social justice advocate Eireann McAuley, named one of the Young Women’s Movement’s ‘30 under 30′.
Baroness Floella Benjamin OM DBE said: “Having a safe and secure home is the key building block for living a happy and fulfilling life, yet today that basic human need is being denied to too many people. The impact on them is heartbreaking.
“All it takes is the grit, perseverance and determination to face the challenges and to keep on pushing for positive change. There is no shortage of people willing to fight this fight and I support all those who are working to change people’s lives.
“When I address Scotland’s annual homelessness conference I hope to energise and inspire the audience, to bring them joy amid the struggle. I want to remind people that even though it sometimes doesn’t feel like it, the work they do every day can and does change lives. So never give up.”
The launch marks the start of a national conversation aimed at ensuring housing and homelessness are top-tier priorities ahead of the 2026 election.
For our communities to live well locally, councils are essential. Councils provide safer communities, housing, roads and transportation, education, social work and social care, environmental health, trading standards, mental health services, advice services, employability, recycling and waste services, libraries, leisure facilities and many more vital services that support and create opportunities for every community in Scotland.
This manifesto sets out what local government needs from Scottish Government to continue to serve local communities and enable us all to live well locally.
Our key asks are grouped under six priority areas, divided into ‘enabling priorities’ focusing on key levers at our disposal (finance, workforce and democratic powers) which enable delivery of our ‘outcomes-focused priorities’ (future generations, thriving places and thriving communities).
We need Scottish Government to work together with local government, as equal partners, to deliver lasting change and improve outcomes.
In May 2026, voters in Scotland will head to the polls for the last time before we hit the critical 2030 deadline for nature and climate action. The next cohort of parliamentarians and the Government will have the monumental task of delivering a nationwide effort to restore nature by 2030.
Wild places are absolutely critical to the success of this national mission. Without proper protection for wild places, nature will not be able to rebound.
With so little time left, the Trust has decided to focus its advocacy efforts on three key asks.
The Trust calls on Scottish political parties to:
To reach the Scottish Government’s nature restoration targets, we need a significant reduction in Scotland’s deer population. For this to happen at scale, it also needs happen at pace. The National Deer Management Plan financially rewards landowners and land workers who are being proactive and enabling nature restoration by carrying out sustainable deer management.
We are asking political parties to commit to:
Such actions will help triple Scotland’s total woodland creation target while saving £900 million in taxpayers’ money. They will enable natural regeneration and colonisation at scale – creating an additional 350,000ha of native woodland. And they will put an end to peatland degradation caused by overgrazing and trampling.
This policy is supported by all major landowning environmental charities alongside Scottish Environment LINK, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, Community Land Scotland and the Scottish Tenant Farmers Association. It is being co-developed with the Association of Deer Management Groups as part of a pilot scheme for 2025-26 announced by the Scottish Government in its last Programme for Government.
Read more about the National Deer Management Plan here.
The Carbon Emissions Land Tax is a great example of a tax that enacts the key principles of Polluters Pay and Just Transition. It is a grown-up, transparent behavioural-change tax that rewards nature and climate conscious landowners and penalises those who are unwilling to manage land in the public interest.
The tax will help local communities build wealth and resilience in the face of the climate and nature crises. The tax would be implemented on a local authority level, and the proceeds would therefore also go back to the local community. Earmarked for climate and nature initiatives, this revenue would empower local councils to fuel a growing environmental sector, providing livelihoods in rural areas.
Here, we are asking political parties to commit to:
Doing all of the above will result in three essential outcomes. It will remove 6m tonnes of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere annually by 2040. It will enable nature restoration at an unprecedented scale by positively impacting more than 60% of Scotland’s land, owned by the approximately 800 largest landowners. And it puts the Polluter Pays and Just Transition principles into action by disincentivising harmful environmental practices, while ensuring revenue from the tax is reinvested in the communities most affected by polluters.
Our Carbon Emissions Land Tax proposal is supported by over 50 organisations, community groups, trade unions, churches and businesses representing over a million people in Scotland. It is also backed by a 4-to-1 majority of Scots according to a YouGov poll.
You can find more details about the tax mechanism and answers to common questions here.
In difficult times, we must make choosing nature easier. The Nature Restoration designation does just that by giving communities, private and charitable landowners the choice and autonomy to protect wild places now and into the future.
This new designation focuses on reducing the threats and pressures to nature and biodiversity, as opposed to current designations which focus on protecting the little that is left, condemning the country to work from a degraded baseline.
Rather than protecting specific characteristics, the new Nature Restoration designation focuses on combating a variety of threats, from INNS to pollution, helping us empower nature to do what it does best: grow, diversify, thrive. This is a nature designation for the 21st century that allows nimbleness in the face of changes brought on by the climate and nature crises.
In challenging times, we must make it easier to choose nature. The new Nature Restoration designation empowers communities, private landowners, and charities to protect wild places – now and for generations to come.
Unlike existing designations that focus on preserving what little remains, this forward-looking approach tackles the root causes of biodiversity loss. It shifts us away from a degraded baseline and toward a thriving future.
Rather than protecting isolated features, the Nature Restoration designation addresses a wide range of threats – from invasive species to pollution – giving nature the space and support it needs to grow, diversify, and flourish.
This is a designation built for the 21st century: adaptive, ambitious, and responsive to the twin crises of climate and biodiversity. It’s a bold step toward restoring Scotland’s natural legacy.
In this case, we are asking political parties to commit to:
Doing this will once again bring three essential outcomes. It will institutionalise the land management concepts that underpin nature restoration. It will protect
areas of land of low biodiversity value from development long into the future.
And it will popularise the concept of nature restoration among the wider public, prompting people to see landscapes through a rewilding lens.
As we get closer to election day, the John Muir Trust’s policy team will be busy lobbying behind the scenes to get these commitments on party manifestos. To be successful, we will need strong public support.
Scotland’s next Government must play its part in maintaining a strong, sustainable voluntary sector, a leading third sector body has said.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has published ‘Scotland’s Essential Sector’, its manifesto for next May’s Scottish Parliament elections.
The sector is instrumental in the delivery of public services. Public sector funding makes up 40% of the voluntary sector’s income, with around £1.6billion from local authorities and £1bn from the Scottish Government – much of it through contracts and grants.
The manifesto has been shaped by the sector itself – with organisations asked what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.
Scotland’s Essential Sector sets out what the sector needs to be stronger, more sustainable, and more empowered – so it can play its full role delivering for communities, and tackling some of the biggest challenges we face as a country.
The six priorities outlined in the manifesto are:
• Delivering fair funding – reforming public sector funding to be multi-year, flexible, sustainable, and accessible.
• Creating a partnership of equals – establishing a formal, long-term partnership between government and the sector.
• Commissioning with communities – embedding ethical commissioning and ending default to commercial procurement.
• Modernising regulation – launching a comprehensive, independent review of charity regulation.
• Securing the future of volunteering – reversing the long-term decline in participation through targeted action.
• Protecting the sector’s voice – introducing anti-SLAPP legislation and safeguarding public interest advocacy.
SCVO Chief Executive Anna Fowlie said: “Voluntary organisations are at the heart of Scotland’s response to the biggest challenges we face — tackling poverty, improving health and wellbeing, supporting children and families, strengthening local economies, advancing climate action, building skills for the future, and much more besides.
“From mental health support to employability programmes, from sports clubs to social care, from community transport to creative arts — voluntary organisations deliver vital support to people and communities in every part of Scotland.
“They are trusted, rooted in communities, and are at the heart of a healthy society, a fair economy, and a strong democracy. They are Scotland’s Essential Sector.
“As we look ahead to the next Scottish Parliament elections, one thing is clear: government cannot meet the needs of people and communities alone.
“The next Scottish Government needs a strong, sustainable voluntary sector.”
Full details of Scotland’s Essential Sector can be found online:
